Tonembee Association
Solar Cookers
Solar cooking is a simple yet ingenious way for users to cook nutritious foods quickly using only the sun as a power source. Solar Cookits modeled after Solar Cookers International's approved designs are helping our villagers dramatically improve their health and environment, stop deforestation, and lower rates of typhoid, cholera, and dysentery. Tonembee has supplied resources for 900 cookers and our goal is to supply 700 more for Kithuia Village. Originally we purchased the cookers and now we provide resources for the villagers to build and distribute their own. We would also like to help the village create a sustainable industry of creation and distribution to other African communities. $40 provides one solar cooker to a local family.
PROJECTS
Fireless Baskets (Kikapus)
Solar cookers work very well when the sun is shining, and on cloudy days, Kithuia Villagers have an environmentally friendly solution which uses a small amount of firewood. After food is cooked for five minutes over a fire, the fire is then blown out and the food is placed into a basket which is lined with padded black fabric. The basket absorbs the heat and continues to cook the food while the user is free to continue doing other business. The basket makers use locally sourced materials and you can provide one for a village family for $50.
Education
When Nikila first visited Kithuia Village, the adults and children made it very clear that they understood that education is the key to their future. With so many orphans lost from the devastating effects of disease, famine, and drought, there were simply no resources available to send childen to school. Especially girls, who were being held back on the farms as caretakers and babysitters. Tonembee got involved and educated the first girl in the village who went to high school and on to university. A huge achievement for an orphan living in poverty in a mud-hut village with no running water or electricity. Ten years later, Tonembee has supported 30 kids in high school and 7 university students. For $680 you can send a qualifying student to a boarding high school where they are housed, fed, and educated for four years. University costs vary from $1400 - $4500 per year depending on the course of study. By educating a villager you are not only protecting them from the ravages of the cycle of poverty, you are also helping them change their lives, their village, and their country.